› added 4 years ago

91

TIL Volcano Surfing or Volcano Boarding, is a sport performed on volcano slopes. Potential dangers include falling off and getting cut by the rough volcanic ash, breathing poisonous gasses, contracting histoplasmosis (otherwise known as 'caver's disease'), or being hit by flying molten lava

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

oB6mr TIL that the Yellow Sam betting coup was a successful betting scheme played out at an Irish racetrack in 1975. The elaborate operation was eventually deemed legal, netting over 300K Irish pounds for Barney Curley and his team. Angry bookies paid out in over 100 bags of single bills.
j6oyj TIL Hydrogen-alpha solar telescopes work thanks to an optical device called an etalon, made up of two semi-reflective, optically flat plates. The flatness of the plates and how parallel they are defines the quality of the view of the Sun, which has an ‘orange peel’ appearance through the telescope
Me98b TIL most of the world's Botox is manufactured in Ireland. A couple of pounds/kilos of the raw botulinum neurotoxin used to make it is enough to kill everyone in the world, multiple times over.
0dMe1 TIL the the Royal Canadian Mounted Police place undercover sky marshals on every Canadian flight to Ronald Regan Washington National Airport
pYeR8 TIL Chinese Architect I.M. Pei designed the Louvre Pyramid. At first, the glass structure recieved heavy criticism and was called 'An Architectural Joke'. Today it is one of France's most iconic destinations.